If you’re a coin collector you know that rarity is the key to value.
And rare coins are, well, unusual.
Coins are made to last.
And there’s usually every reason for their owners to hang on to them and to keep them safe.
However, circumstances can produce rarities.
Even in the age of mass production.
The US Mint in Philadelphia today. It's where many of the rarest coins were struck.
Coin collectors are usually advised that American coins produced before 1800 are likely to be rare.
And even after that date accidents of production and design and economics have produced extreme circumstances that have produced extreme rarity.
The numbers of these coins that exist are “known numbers”.
They’re not always set in stone.
So, there could be more examples out there.
That’s one reason why coin collectors stay in the hobby for life.
What if they find one?
Let’s look at the top 5 rare coins in US history.
5 - 1804 Silver Dollar
Worth more than its weight in silver, gold, platinum or any number of precious substances.
There are 15 known examples of the 1804 silver dollar.
And they were not made in 1804.
And they were not made for spending in the US.
The 1804 dollar was struck in the 1830s in order to give diplomat Edmund Roberts something to give away on his tour of East Asia in 1834 and 1835.
Most were taken by Roberts and handed to high government officials in Japan among other places.
Some further examples were traded away by the US mint.
Some were struck secretly as money-makers.
No dollars were struck in 1804 and dated 1804. The mint had overproduced high denomination coins in the early years of the United States. The people of the new nation needed small change. And for a number of years that’s all they got.
In 1834 Edmund Roberts was a shipping magnate who also negotiated trade deals for the US government on his travels. He wanted some fancy gifts to take with him and suggested sets of coins. As the mint had not produced silver dollars since the 1803-dated coins minted until March 1804, Roberts was given coins dated 1804.
And off they went.
These coins are not the only 1804 silver dollars though.
Mint employees wanted to cash in in what was already a growing market in numismatic rarities. And some of them produced restrikes of this most coveted coin in the later decades of the 19th century.
This gives us three classes of 1804 silver dollars. All of which are very rare.
Class 1 coins are those made for Roberts trip.
Class 2 coins are those made by mint employees and which do not have edge lettering.
Class 3 coins are those made by mint employees that do have edge lettering.
Find one of any of them and you will make millions of dollars.
The highest price yet paid is $4.14 million paid in 1999 for an example given to Sid bin Sultan by Roberts.
There is a dangerous mystery around the 1804 Silver Dollar.
It’s possible there are more. The claim that no 1804-dated coins were struck in 1804 has been disputed. And the fact that mint employees were producing replicas on the sly means it’s possible that not all of those coins have been accounted for.
And this mystery - there could be more genuine coins out there - has made the 1804 Silver Dollar a favourite with forgers.
4 - The 1933 Double Eagle
The wear to Lady Liberty's nose shows why high-relief designs are a poor choice for gold coins.
Unlike some very rare coins, the 1933 Double Eagle (worth $20) was produced in large numbers.
Now, there are just 13 known specimens, 12 in museums.
The one in private hands has been sold only after special procedures - including adding $20 to the sale price - rendered it legal currency rather than stolen gold bullion.
The coins were made in 1933 to the design of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. His designs are much beloved of collectors, in part because the high-relief they used made them impossible to strike easily producing another rarity.
This coin is rare for another reason.
The Great Depression.
In 1933, in response to a national banking crisis, President Franklin D Roosevelt made an executive order that effectively nationalised much of the US’s gold supply.
No need for large denomination, gold coins then.
So, the 1933 Double Eagle was cancelled with 445,500 minted and ready to go.
They were almost all melted down.
And it’s the almost that collectors love.
Two were kept as a national record of the coin. And… 20 were somehow spirited away from the melting process and into a lucrative history as some of the most valuable coins in US history.
Nine of these are known to have been destroyed after being seized.
Ten are kept at the US’s Fort Knox bullion store.
And one is in private hands.
In June 2021 it became the most valuable coin ever sold at auction when it realised $18.9 million.
3 - Brasher Doubloons New York
This is probably the most famous rare coin in American history thanks in part to its role in detective fiction.
Brasher doubloons are the most famous rare coin of all.
And they’re not even nationally minted legal tender.
Brasher is Ephraim Brasher, a New York goldsmith who wanted to get the job of minting coins for the State of New York.
They didn’t want his work. So he made his own.
Doubloons were based on Spanish money, which was often accepted as legal tender in the early years of the United States.
There are a variants of the doubloon.
The first-made were probably the New York style doubloons, which feature the states motto and are very much American.
And Lima-style examples. These mimic Spanish coins almost exactly, and are relatively recently ascribed to Brasher.
They may be rare.
And a half doubloon may be rarer still.
The seven known Brasher doubloons are all accounted for, and the last sale was a world-record $9.36 million in January 2021.
2 - 1913 Liberty Head nickel
Although its origin story raises questions, there's no doubting the rarity of this coin and buyers are willing to pay huge sums to own one of just five of them.
There are 5 known specimens of this surprisingly recent rarity.
The nickel is a 5 cent piece.
And it’s very rare for such a low-face-value coin to become rare.
Yet in 2010 one of these coins was given a new value - $3.7 million.
While undoubtedly rare, there is some mystery around these coins.
They first came to light via a coin collector, who also happened to be a former employee of the US Mint.
The official story is that 1913 saw a change in design of the nickel. The Liberty Hear was replaced with a Buffalo in February.
That gives us a plausible reason why there might be a shortage of 1913 Liberty Head coins.
But just five?
They all come from the same source, Samuel Brown, and were revealed as early as 1919.
Did Brown strike them himself or otherwise arrange their manufacture to give him a ready made rarity?
No further examples have been found and the five known to exist are all accounted for.
Prices certainly show that owners are happy to accept that this coin is worth paying for: $5 million in 2010, $3.7 million in 2010, $3.2 million in 2013.
So, there’s some mystery about this coin, but none about its value and rarity.
1 - 1822 Half Eagle
This example is from 1813, even images of the 1822 coin are hard to come by.
There are three known specimens of this fine 19th century gold coin.
The last sale was for $8.4 million in 2021.
This is another coin that was produced in decent numbers.
A healthy 17,796 were minted.
Two are in the Smithsonian and one is in anonymous private hands.
And somewhere perhaps there are more.
It’s not clear why the 1822 Half Eagle (worth $5) should be so rare.
Perhaps the number recorded as minted is inaccurate.
Maybe there are economic reasons why the coin didn’t last, but they are obscure if they exist. It’s most likely that they were melted down as the gold price exceeded the face value of the coin at some point.
What we do know is that the single example in private hands has been much treasured, and remained in private collections for very long periods.
If it is sold again in our lifetimes it will probably be only once.
To our list we could add the 1849 Double Eagle Pattern.
That’s a unique example that is in the collection of the Smithsonian and is commonly valued at $20 million.
If it’s ever sold then something very serious will have happened to the US economy.
But, as a pattern coin we’ll leave it aside for another list.
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